I'll be honest with you, business is tough at the moment. Amazingly though, not on the customer end. Which gets me emotional thinking about how unreal our customers are. Fiercely loyal, evangelistic and have continued to support us in full force over the past few years. However, our groins have been getting trampled by rising costs across the board.
We've been 'mopping up isles' for 12 months now. Each week, something else spills over the top and we try to absorb the costs in any which way we can.
However, we've come to a breaking point - one that many businesses across the world have hit much earlier than us in the past two years. So for that, I am super grateful.
The accumulation of a multitude of increased costs in the past 12 months has led us to this inevitable conclusion.
Since the start of the pandemic;
- Silver is up 81% and gold is up 68%.
- Shipping is an absolute bastard of a thing. Up 90%.
- Production costs are now also up 60%.
It's a blood bath.
Now, I'm not going to give you the bog-standard, "we considered throwing the towel in on the whole operation..." smack - that you hear so often from brands. Na, that's not in mine or my team's nature.
But we are going to humbly ask that you trust us again, that a price increase is an essential move for us and we've been doing our absolute best to roll with the punches over the last 12 months.
If the prices are now too high for you - stay in the wings, stay where I can see you and it's on us to prove to you that we are worth it. I know that we'll be able to deliver more than double the value than any other jeweller. I truly believe that and this price increase just lights a fire under us to make that known even more so.
It's easy to get romantic about your own label. So whether I am writing this to be read by you or just for some self motivation: I know that we do under value our product in order to be more accessible. I am extremely confident that you can put our quality up against any of the high end jewellers and we edge them in quality every time. Design aesthetic is subjective of course, I can't argue there. However, I have come to terms with the fact that in order to continue to produce our pieces with such a staunch focus on production quality and broader brand components that build in the intrinsic value that we hedge ourselves too - we do need to nudge the prices up slightly. Otherwise, Howlet will exist but it'll just look embarrassingly different.
Specifically, here are some price change details;
- Smaller core range, will remain at 290-330 (5% increase)
- Larger signets, $340-360 (this will be the main rise, approx 8%)
- Two tone pieces & gemstone designs; $380-420 (8% increase)
- Pendants, average price up to $210-220 (10% increase)
- Gold wedding signets, average 5% increase.
If you've been with Howlet for some time now, you'll know that our rolled ankled has always come at the production stage. Specifically the long lead times. This is where we crumple.
As of July/August, we have final managed to partner with another team of jewellers to handle the volume. They will be working alongside our current team in studio and we'll be building inventory, meaning that we will now hold stock and your order will be shipped within 24 hours of purchase.
Ohhh good god, why didn't this happen sooner. I hear you. Believe me.
So hopefully this sweetener makes the price increase news slightly easier to swallow. In the coming months, we should be completely stocked for most designs, in most sizes. For those that do order unique designs or unique sizes - they will still be made to order and our team will be much more on top of the production and will be able to ship within 7 days.
I can't tell you how amped I am about this.
Since I've got you here, deep into a bombardment of an email, I thought I'd spill a bit more hype for you... These are some designs that we have in the hot lil' mix:
- The Irwin; crocodile signet design
- Tiger Yin & Yang Signet
- Chameleon Signet
- Seahorse Signet...
- Then of course the Pinky Piece release on June 15th
^ These are all arriving within 6 weeks. Stay close.
Due to the short notice, we're again opening up the opportunity for the next two weeks for anyone to purchase at the original price. If you had an order in the decision pipeline or you were saving up to make a purchase, don't worry, we'll honour that original price.
I want to wrap with this with opening up a line to let me hear your thoughts. Directly email me at: ryan.ps@crookedhowletdesigns.com
Feed me some abuse.
Give us some advice.
Let me hear what you want us to improve on or what you want to see more of.
I'm here for a yarn. Always.
- Ryan
Owner & Founder.
]]>I always consider 'Crooked' and 'Designs' to be padding. Filling out a name and symbol that needed some juice. 'Howlet' for me, was the focal point...
However, I did like the tempo of the three piece feed, 'Crooked Howlet Designs' - however, verbal tribulations rebranded CHD right from the start... For some bizarre reason, most people would roll their ankle on the opening word 'Crooked'. Also, the adoption of the initials "CHD" wasn't overly buoyant. So it became a botched pronunciation 'crooked'.
Listening people fumble around with "Crocked" or "Crook't Rings', I realised that firstly we probably haven't done a good enough job to guide the chitchat around the phrase. But mainly, we should stop putting a linguistic hand-break into the brand name and just cut it down to the solid, reliable, 'Howlet'.
However, as every new important movement does - this really opened up an opportunity to further build the community around the legacy name of Crooked Howlet Designs - for those that know, know.
For those of you who don't know the origin story - and when I say 'those who don't know', I mean, likely everyone - I'll spin a super quick yarn on this...
My dad and I were parked up in a watering hole called The Crooked Billet in the UK, when the brand name for a yet to be created jewellery company arose. It was a pub in Clapton.
As we were wanting to tie in a stronger image than a limbing squatter, we subbed in the Shakespearean word for owl, which is 'howlet'. As in MacBeth;
"A lizards leg and howlets wing..."
That birthed the name of CHD. Then 35mins later, someone already pronounced it wrong. Now here we are.
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This is what begun a long winded brewing of the playing cards campaign. Our rendition on the vintage deck of cards, in collaboration with no other than resident artist, Nick Potts.
Again, you need to understand that this isn't a Vince McMahon flare up. It's hard to thesaurus so many descriptive approaches to expressing my love for a collection - so, I'll keep it to the raw basics of the Queens English. It's fucking sick.
I knew the concept had legs, due to what I explained in the opening line. However, how Nick Potts, was able to so perfectly absorb what we were conceptualising and the for it to translate into these cards, is outer insanity.
Not only would the concept of the 12 Piece Monthly Exclusive Collaboration be unreal with a standard deck of cards, we've just so happened to create probably one of the best decks of playing cards that I've ever seen.
- They have beautifully aged colour co-ordination.
- They retain their familiarity to the traditional face cards.
- A perfect bow to the Howlet brand codes that allow us that sculptural flare to build into a powerful signet ring.
A new face card (King, Queen or Jack), every month, from each suit. Spades, Hearts, Clubs and Diamonds. 12 pieces total. As always, sold that month only, then never again...
There are a few key components to the execution of the designs in the collection, that sealed the deal on this year's Monthly Exclusives being something special.
1. Size Optimised
A very bold and detailed design, however the piece itself is a tight accessible size. Not too obtrusive or over powering.
Yet, for those bigger finger sizes, the piece is scaled up to suit.
2. Side Detail
That familiar detail from the back of playing cards, we've build into the side of the rings.
3. The Collective / Tribal Aspect
Let me fumble around and try to unravel this point slowly...
When allocating the cards for each month, I found myself tentatively rooting for a 'good one' on my birth month, August.
However, to be honest, it didn't need to be 'good one'... I was going to adopt that design as my own, regardless of my aesthetic attraction - because, its the hand I was dealt.
(If you've seen a more pure and perfect use of a pun, I'd like to know it).
So with a sequential element to this collection, it breeds a tribal feeling of attraction to your monthly design. Whether the certain face card and suit, which has a specific relevance to you, or it is a birth month... it's a design worth backing, for intrinsic purpose.
And finally, the significance of the sequence of cards - creates a motivation for mulitple pieces in the collection. 'Four Kings', a straight or a flush... Good god, think of the possibilities.
So get tribal, know your month or line up the 'hand you were dealt'... And we'll see you soon.
JANUARY - We kick things off with the King of Spades ♠️
FEBRUARY - Queen of Spades ♠️ (as well as additional featured design)
MARCH - Jack of Spades ♠️
APRIL - King of Hearts ♥️
MAY - Queen of Hearts ♥️ (as well as additional featured design)
JUNE - Jack of Hearts ♥️
JULY - King of Clubs ♣️
AUGUST - Queen of Clubs ♣️ (as well as additional featured design)
SEPTEMBER - Jack of Clubs ♣️
OCTOBER - King of Diamonds ♦️
NOVEMBER - Queen of Diamonds ♦️ (as well as additional featured design)
DECEMBER - Jack of Diamonds ♦️
Do you know what I've just realised, this collection is ripe with puns... Puns that actually just work. Because, we've got a few 'wild cards' in amongst the 2023 collection. You'll see this in Feb, May, August and November...
- CHD Team.
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I'm going to be less discrete on the launch strategy for this two piece suite and let you know 'WHY NOW'. Hopefully with this clarity, you'll hear our desperation, and pitch in to ease the 90hr weeks that our production staff need to get through leading into Christmas.
We are releasing this for November, to 'ENTICE' early Christmas shopping.
It'll be released for an 'undisclosed' timeframe... Maybe it hangs about for only a few weeks, maybe it becomes a brand staple and lives on - but is that a gamble you're willing to take?
Getting our customers onto an early Christmas order, has been an ongoing battle - one that I am guilty of not preparing for either myself. I will also be harranging brands 4 days out from Christmas asking for delivery before the 25th.
So I figured, instead of appealing to your sensibilities - something that I am equally immune to around this time of year - I thought, lets roll out a design that has been in the works for some time now and tickle your Chrissy flare to jump on this early November, instead of the last minute gift cert shuffle.
So, with that being said, of course the design needs to convert... Gooiz, it does.
Introducing, first glimpses of, The Messenger.
The concept was from the same birth, with an added element of reality.
The reality being, that the genuine heirloom pieces that were handed down through the generations were often unwearable sizes and out of reasonable fear of damaging the piece, they never resized the ring to fit, and hung from chain around the neck.
Something else that further fed the concept-mule...
A customer a few years back had mentioned breaking their finger in a dust up, which had healed like a permanent rolled ankle and therefore he had since relocated the piece to been hung around his gullet (worn on a chain around his neck).
This began a very long winded brewing period.
Not because the concept was wildly complex but just because I hadn't really had a strong feeling that this thing would pop and I didn't really know how to position it.
Not that this has any relevance to you, and I'm sure it won't substantially add to the tale, but the final nudge came a few weeks ago when a good mate validated this idea, by requesting if we'd ever thought of, 'making smaller versions of the ring to be worn as a pendant', as he wasn't much of a ring wearer... That was all I needed to hear.
So, if you needed it, a reason to redirect those finger belts up to the pendant level, then we've framed it up nicely for you... The head has, and always will be, the Eleventh Finger.
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Size
Although the piece needs to have an overall smaller design size to it, it is generally in the style that the size is made to work more applicably to the pinky finger.
Style
The finer points of the style is where the pinky ring feels its purpose.
Firstly, with less 'meat' and knuckle on the pinky, the pinky ring needs quite a snug fit and therefore to be able to fit into the back crease, there needs to be a steep curve on the shoulders after the signet face.
Secondly, is removing any obtrusiveness to the piece. It needs to sit low and flush to the finger. Its a strange thing that you'll notice when wearing a larger pinky ring, is how often you'll clip it on a table when you're walking by. It's bizarre. You'd never noticed how calculated these table fly-bys are, until you slap a ring on the pinky. So any additional distance added to your paw, will get annoying.
Lastly, is this feeling of comfort. As the pinky rings need to be perfectly snug and up close next to the webbing on the finger, its essential that the shank profile is perfectly round.
Significance
Significance, seems like it should apply to all pieces, however I feel that there is a prestige and legacy to a pinky piece that doesn't exist with all rings.
As we noted previously, having the pinky occupied by any ring is 90% of the job done. Aesthetics aside. What I mean is, many other rings will need to carry a lot more design attraction for other fingers, where as the pinky ring has a sole purpose of sitting on the outside of the paw and carrying purpose or significance. Whether a meaningful gift, a reminder, or a simple 'yep, I'm a pinky ring type...'.
We've built in the ability to have legacy and added significance by, adding the hallmarks to the face to represent the year it was made, where it was made and a final added touch, is the individual piece number. 1/500, 2/500.... and so on.
This year, we've kept the core principles of a pinky ring strong and adapted further. Let's let Ned Flanders do the heavy lifting here... "It's like wearing nothing at all... Nothing at all.... NOTHING AT ALL"
You want that flanking outer metal to be hugging flush to the fist. It needs to have a 'comfort' to it, which is strange to say about a piece of metal suctioned to your knuckle. But, it needs to feel like you're wearing nothing at all.
As the pinky lacks girth and the knuckle structure to hold a piece securely on the finger like all the other digits, we've kept the face quite thin, which will allow it to tuck into the crease on the inside of the hand. Then the features of the signet, flow with the contours of the hand - without being a ballbag with the description, better said 'it's well rounded and sits low to the finger'.
"Anything, As Long As It Hugs This lil' Digit..."
There's a strange thing that I've picked up on during my time with CHD...
Two approaches with very different entry points, have shown to be the main settlement for shopping attitudes.
Here they are:
"I want THIS ring... It pumps. I love it... Now, what finger should I channel it on?"
OR, and this is big departure from the first approach...
"I need a ring for my pinky... I don't overly care what ring, just a pinky ring."
The nuance (might not even be that nuanced, but its a fun word to say, or type) here is that people either are focused on the ring or the pinky finger. The focus on a particular finger, really doesn't extend beyond the pinky. Obviously unless its for a wedding ring. Even still, the ring's aesthetic plays more of a role than for the purpose of filling that little outside prodder aka the pinky.
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"Anything, As Long As It Hugs This lil' Digit..."
There's a strange thing that I've picked up on during my time with CHD...
Two approaches with very different entry points, have shown to be the main settlement for shopping attitudes.
Here they are:
"I want THIS ring... It pumps. I love it... Now, what finger should I channel it on?"
OR, and this is big departure from the first approach...
"I need a ring for my pinky... I don't overly care what ring, just a pinky ring."
The nuance (might not even be that nuanced, but its a fun word to say, or type) here is that people either are focused on the ring or the pinky finger. The focus on a particular finger, really doesn't extend beyond the pinky. Obviously unless its for a wedding ring. Even still, the ring's aesthetic plays more of a role than for the purpose of filling that little outside prodder aka the pinky.
This realisation is what birthed the Pinky Piece Release. Coined in 2021, and we are now on the second year running. And by the Mother of Moe, it's a hot one this year.
Last year, we had the Opal Textured Signet, see below.
This year, we've kept the core principles of a pinky ring strong and adapted further. Lets let Ned Flanders do the heavy lifting here... "It's like wearing nothing at all... Nothing at all.... NOTHING AT ALL"
You want that flanking outer metal to be hugging flush to the fist. It needs to have a peculiar comfort to it. It needs to feel like you're wearing nothing at all.
As the pinky lacks girth and the knuckle structure to hold a piece securely on the finger like all the other digits, we've kept the face quite thin, which will allow it to tuck into the crease on the inside of the hand. Then the features of the signet, flow with the contours of the hand - without being a ballbag with the description, better said 'it's well rounded and sits low to the finger'.
Keep yourself stupidly close, we are releasing only 500 Pieces, then, never to be sold again...
There seems to always be an utterance of 'no more skulls' during the countdown. However, there is an undeniable attachment to the skull motif, that comes in droves. We have no personal or brand identity that we feel the need to push designs through that have a skull element within the piece, it is purely due to the massive support base that these designs attract.
If you think about it a little further... The simple fact that skull based designs are plentiful, requires the specific design approach to that much more thoughtful and impactful. It's the nature of not having a unique aspect to carry the design that demands a further creative flare. The Collector has nailed this.
What it also brings to the table, is a level of accessibility to those who may want to give a subtle nod to the skullduggery, without wearing an overly bold 'Skull Ring'.
Coffin shaped signet, with a catacombs inspired sunken positive skull orientation.
A more petite design, perfectly suited for pinky piece OR just those who lean towards slimmer pieces.
We are into the second and third iteration of the product development stage.
The original document of our Mission Statement.
So here it is, Crooked Howlet Designs Mission Statement is;
To provide the best blank canvas for experiences to be built on; by giving our jewellery purpose and the ability to have legacy.
It may not look like much, but this actually took years to perfect. I deliberated on the word 'ability' for months and now I feel it's the most important word in the statement. The ABILITY to have legacy is us both understanding our role as a brand and what customers require of us... without getting too over our skies and marketing our rings as 'heirloom' rings. They're not. They have the ability to be and it's our job to provide that capability to be held by the wear in the highest significance. We do this through building provenance, giving the pieces a defined cast date and therefore an age. We do through exclusivity. We also have the Ring Library that archives every single ring we make.
But until a customer makes that crossover into seeing their piece through a different lens, which is the crossover from aesthetic to purpose, we are not going to force anything further on them. Nothing pisses me off more than these big jewellery labels marketing their new ring as 'The Heirloom Piece'... Pfft, is it mate? Good chance it's just going to be lost up a rectum the first weekend.
We appreciate that most of our customers just love the look of the design and they are looking to juice up their mitts. That's why we firstly remain product and design centric - articulated in the section 'provide the best canvas'. From there, the ability and purpose is built.
- Ryan
Founder
See you soon...
- Ryan
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This year, every week, we're going to drop one of these sketches into an order that ships out.
If you get one, frame it. Hold onto the bastard nice and tight. I wanted it, but I've committed to this campaign, so you'll need to hang onto it for the time being.
Let's call it, the 'NFT Reversion'.
I'm not against the new hype around NFTs, not in the slightest. But as its latched it's wagon to art recently, it's giving me a some a touch of nostalgia, in which I felt the need to showcase a bit of that tactical feel. The old-hand style of pen and paper, so we can one day say 'remember that'.
- Ryan
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Either watching sports or playing sports usually soccer, takes up most of my free time, and if it doesn’t effect match day you’ll definitely find me partying in the city on weekends.
Must be @derschutze_clo ! It’s a really unique clothing brand that uses colour shifting heat sensitive designs and similar to Crooked Howlet, each clothing item is a one day exclusive and is never made again.
Obviously, Conor [last year's winner] and I are good mates and if anyone was going to dethrone the champ it was going to be me. He’s also how I found out about the comp as well.
I’ve always been a guy that loves to draw whether at school or on the walls at home as a kid so its something that’s always been a part of my life. Also went through a few art subjects both in my school and university days.
I was initially fixated on snakes and my ultimate goal was basically to incorporate a snake on the signet but in a unique fashion. There was plenty of google searching to understand the body of the snake better and the way it coils itself around various objects.
This gave me the idea of having it coil around the ring face as well creating a boarder around the ring. However, a snake on its own seemed too simple and maybe there was an opportunity to have more of a story to this snake.
I’m a fan of contrast whether it be colours or textures and even in this case, meanings to a story. This got me thinking of the contrasting image of a snake. More often than not we think of snakes as predators but maybe we could take a look at the flip side of that coin? I saw the opportunity to present the other characteristic of snakes, their protective instinct.
I researched what animals would commonly be considering prey and found an image of an elegant peaceful fawn. Combining the fawn within the centre of the coiled snake seemed to display this protective quality and the visual contrast I was looking for, while having the snakes head positioned looking away rather than towards the fawn also helped achieved this. With the ring face done I focussed on the rest of the ring to try tie the whole design together. I found many peoples submissions used some kind of image engraved onto the sides of the bands and wanted to do something slightly different. I imagined scales of a snake would be an interesting texture to have on a ring band but felt having them on the outside would ruin the effect of the ring face. Instead, I decided to add them to the underside of the band to be seen as a hidden detail for the user.
Lastly a little bit of photoshop rendering to finish the sketch put the final touches on the design and brought the entire concept together.
It really means everything to have won this competition. As a guy who’s never been that fortunate, it feels incredible to have been able to win a competition up against so many talented people. I’m someone who tends to doubt myself a lot and winning this competition has also helped me have more self confidence in my own ability as well.
With my design job now, having time for my own personal designs or sketching comes pretty thin. However, this competition has given me motivation to pursue more personal design work and not lose touch with sketching as a passion as well as for fun.
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I am currently the Marketing and Content Coordinator for Jendamark, in South Africa.
I love to keep busy - so working on the farm, surfing, diving, fishing - if it's in the ocean or workshop - either way I’m happy! I started ByWatson during COVID - being freshly retrenched - it gave me the much needed downtime I needed to focus on something I have been passionate about for a long time. I started off by collecting the recycled & used wooden coffee stirrers from our local cafés and using glue and concept to create recycled wooden rings which people loved! This is what drove me to keep designing!
This is a really tough question because - for me, there were SO many incredible designs. Concepts that were just epic! Choosing one - I would have to say that my favourite was “Bite me” by Emma Ramm – freakin’ loved that design. As for the win - I was stuck between Small world and Half-life as both were solid and well-designed concepts!
I am obsessed with Juan Luis Zubizarreta’s work @spanishlordoftherings !! Definitely would recommend people give him a follow!
A friend of mine introduced me to CHD some time back and I’ve been obsessed with the work ever since. I would get a notification whenever the page would update, so when the competition came up I decided just to try, not thinking much would come of it - but what a cool platform to design something - especially with no limits. I honestly didn’t even think I would make the Top 50 - let alone become a Runner Up!
I was raised in a family of traditional artists - but I was the only one interested more so in Digital Art & Design. No one taught me how to draw or how to conceptualize art - but I loved it and would often spend hours on Pinterest following pages for inspiration! I started designing tattoos in high school and would often be asked to draw the competition T-Shirt Designs for local surf comps. I’ve always had a love for design and art and during 2017 - an opportunity came up and I was lucky enough to take up a position as the new Graphic Designer for GSM Trading SA (Billabong / Element / Von Zipper etc). I spent a couple of years there before moving to where I am now and haven’t looked back.
Being very ocean and sea orientated, I'm often down at the beach doing something - be it surfing / diving - whatever. I even have a bell diver tattoo that I based my design off. I have ALWAYS been drawn to Bell Divers but - in the same breath i've also always had a fascination with the stars! So it was a no-brainer for me to take these two concepts and merge them in a kind of a ‘ying and yang’ sense. They are the two biggest unknowns of our world. Essentially two whole entire worlds of their own. They both hold so much beauty and fear, and I think that's really beautiful.
I started with designing each helmet to see if it would work as initially I wasn’t sure if they would - but they seemed to gel so I then just ran with it. It was such a fluid design process from start to finish, the final design submitted was basically the first version I drew up.
It honestly means the world, the amount of support from friends and strangers that showed up for my design shows me that I could be on the right track and that I could do it. A big validation for me.
I would love to keep designing rings and jewellery and hopefully get enough capital and knowledge to grow my own company – it is a massive dream of mine to make quality jewellery that people love.
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What started as a scramble to fit a suitable design for the question; "I need a pinky ring, what you got for me?", turned into the hustle for the perfect pinky ring design.
That outside prodder needs its metal corset and we've got you all sorted... Well for 500 pieces.
You know WHY & you know how. Let us walk you through the key characteristics of this piece it bows to the pinky as its home.
1. Overall size needs to be smaller than most designs. We've kept this design size down, with a smaller stone bed sitting at 10x8mm. However, the piece still have a dense nature to it - it's not delicate by any means. Thickness is still around 2.5mm
2. Given the significance of the coveted 'Pinky Ring', this piece needs to have a story... It needs to have solid provenance and story. We need to be able to tool you all up with some good chirp to answer the question - 'whats that ring about..?' And, ooh yeh, we've got you covered. The centre piece of the ring, is an Australia Opal that we've managed to source a batch mined in Lighting Ridge
3. It needs to sit flush to the finger with less of a protruding signet face. Being the outside finger, it can lend itself to damage and just being a bit of a nuisance if it sits too much off the finger. The setting is in an organic low bezel, to sit nice and snug to the digit.
4. As the pinky has a small distance between the first knuckle, the webbing can sometimes make it a little uncomfortable. So the edge of shank (ring band) needs to be very rounded. So this design has a very unique but thick rounded edge to give an, almost 'soft comfy' feeling.
5. Due to being a flank finger, it should have detail all the way around the ring, so the side detail is as much of a feature as the centre piece on the signet top. We've textured the centre of the band with a stipple brush wheel.
6. The Pinky Ring is often the only ring worn on a hand, so we need to juice it up with some inner detail, to sit in the palm of your hand.
This is one of the components of the ring that we are most excited about and it's hard to describe why. We've added this plate to the underside of the ring band, which showcases the hallmarks. Its a super nice detail that really ties the piece together.
FIVE REASONS WHY, you'll end a sentence with "...so yeah, we got the Opal Pinky Piece!"
- It's the October Birthstone...
- Christmas is strangely close.
- The opal, good god, the opal
FAQ's
- Can I where it on another finger.
No..... joking of course. Yes, obviously anything long and 'pointy' will be able to house this piece, but we do suggest it firstly for the pinky. Secondly, the right ring finger. Thirdly... your mates pinky ;)
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I was having a yarn with a new jeweller here at the start of the week. Typical ramblings on what pisses me off about the jewellery industry - in particular, its archaic approach to manufacturing processes and its inability to innovate.
I jot this down to how old the industry is and these system being taught through the notion of, 'thats just the way the industry does it', mentality. No Socratic method of breaking down WHY we do things, just pegging it up as 'thats the way I was taught, so it must be right'.
Halfway through cussing someone out, our jeweller who I was yarning with, stopped me in agreement, adding that his grandpa was a jeweller during the war and that he had even noticed how little some of the tools had changed.
My ears obviously pricked and I got him to bring those tools in yesterday.
Just seeing these tools, over a hundreds years old, really made me reassess my previous days assault on the industry. Not a complete turncoat, but at least it has made me realise that being a part of an industry with such heritage and history, has this very unique charm. I'm half a twit to be putting the age of the industry in my crosshairs, whilst it is this very nature that has moulded a key part of our brand ethos - legacy and tradition.
Without the grammatical titillation, (in simple terms), I've got to pull myself up on the hypocrisy of ridiculing the slow moving, 'old' industry, whilst so building a brand identity and product focus around legacy and the traditions of heirloom signets.
Some of the tools have come a long way with modern functionality of power, however most of these tools hold a similar swagger.
Look, there's obviously room to improve and the industry as a whole needs to be a little more open to the introduction of new ideas and approaches to manufacturing or consumer behaviour. However, its equally important to tow along these rich traditions, as there is significant value in not only provenance of an individual ring, but provenance of the techniques that sculpted the way we produce jewellery today.
Enough on that, let me show you...
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Yes look, it's not to nuanced in this example, no. But let pick this a part further.
The idea is that people either are first attracted to a ring design and then they are looking to decide on a finger. OR, they are motivated by the idea of a 'Pinky Ring' and are happy to be flexible on the design, as long as it is parked up on this particular finger.
The strange thing being that this does not happen with any other finger (outside of a wedding band of course). No one barks at us needing an 'index finger ring', it just doesn't happen.
So this phenomenon - which I'll admit, is the most underwhelming use of the word 'phenomenon'. It's usually nestled into a piece on quantum theory. We're talking about pinky rings... I should take it down a peg, shouldn't I.
Well regardless, this 'weird thing' has lead us to focus on developing the ultimate pinky piece. It needs to bow to a few characteristics;
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This isn't a phoney Kayne hype builder... I COULD have dropped this tomorrow, no problem, but I've been really bothered by a few aspects that I know we can do better. And it would be a disservice to Justin, Lyell and all of you to jump the gun.
It's always a very brutal call to make, as I am so weary of the anticipation and eagerness to see these pieces made. However, it's that same anticipation that bares over me with an intimidating glare, that I feel we need to get this design perfect on our end.
So, let's do this... I am going to push it back until October. BUT we've got some surprises for you this month, that were due out in October. So the ol' wife (month) swap is going down.
We are moving forward, 'The Pinky Piece Release'. So try and keep the hate mail to a minimum, we've got you covered this month...
I've always been somewhat resistant to heavily 'brand focus' designs. The arrogance is well earned by Gucci, to be able to tout this design approach.
I have always put design first and how we can achieve the best results with the aesthetic components of the ring. By this I mean, you will rarely see blatant branding slapped across a ring.
Whether its that I feel we don't yet deserve this spot light or that I have just preferred other imagery... either way, Crooked Howlet Designs is rarely the focal point in our rings.
*In strolls the Legacy Band...
Now, let me introduce, this new design.
The concept was to have a plain band style (without a signet face), that maps our journey - like cave etchings.
Throughout the design, we have small engravings that represent milestones within our brand life.
However, you'll notice that these milestones, or lets call them 'key design motifs', represent milestones of any lifecycle. Originally designed as a piece to showcase CHD's journey, we pivoted as we understood the relationship of everyones individual trot. From Good and Bad luck, through to those things most important in your life. This is the 2021 Legacy Band, that you can all see yourself in.
Let me take you through these (not in chronological order)...
1. The Eagle; it was whilst watching the Hori Smoku documentary on traditional tattoos and a deep dive into this style that originally gave me the idea for having monthly exclusives. I loved the approach for these one off, exclusive tattoos that generally have a tie to a certain life stage for these sailors. I felt that we couldn't achieve this by having this style engraved into designs and available all year around. They needed to be anchored to a certain milestone, or period. So we gave it the 'Month' to be sold within. The eagle is a traditional and very noticeable tattoo style from the era.
2. The Horseshoes; this represents the good and bad luck that we've had throughout our journey.
The bad luck specifically, was the situation we had in 2018, where our website was hacked and I lost 30k. As a young business, this was hard to cop. There were many sleepless nights and long unpaid days. But it didn't flatten us, so out the ass end of it, I was stoked to see how resilient the business is.
The 'good luck' comes in many forms. Business is a unique blend of luck and hard work. You create the opportunity and capability, through hard work and the chance of good luck finding you, becomes the positive advantage of the numbers game. However, for success - you need that little swig of good luck.
I put CHD's 'good luck' down to the business mentorship I had from my father. No hard work could earn that and it can feel undeserved at times. In other walks of life, hard work will play a part of finding that mentorship.
3. The Sinking Ship and Homeward Bound; the move a few years ago to set up in the UK, make this our base and ship out of both Aus and the UK. Long story short, we ended up deciding to come home to Aus and go hammer and tong here. This is when we moved into our big new studio where we are today and things really hit a new stride. This was our period of true scale...
I have found this to be a common journey for many people. In a recent podcast with Year 13 founder, we discuss just this. Both the clarity of returning home after an eye opening trip, paired with the stark reality of life on the home front.
4. The Skull Headed Cat; represents one of the funner collaborations I've done with a long time friend, 'Jake Voroshine'; Crooked Howlet Sucks campaign.
5. The 13th Dice & 8 Ball; obviously associated to the Friday the 13th One Day Exclusive Releases, which first launched in 2018. The 8 Ball has its roots in the reference to chance. However, together we want to put a further emphasis on chance being subject to rolling the dice and allowing the opportunity for chance to have an affect in your life. As it has ours.
6. The Dead Fish; is actually tied to both the Design Comp and our beginnings in design - as the first ever ring that we ever did (as some of you may remember), was the Sailors Grave design (with this dead fish). Then it was only fitting that the winner of the first ever design comp was the Prosperity, koi fish design.
7. One of my favourite motifs, is the Ouroboros Serpent; which made its way into the ranks with the Ouroboros Signets and Pendants.
8. The Hourglass; is more of a personal law that rises my corpse out of bed at 4:15am every morning. Both a fear and a discomfort of the day ticking by - something that drives me each day to get after it.
If not already seen through motifs such as Memento Mori, its a worth message to take on - the inevitability of death shouldn't be looming darkness, but a motivator, to get up and get after it.
9. The Irish Clover; is a personal one and also associated to the St Paddy's Day Release, which was the first of our condensed 'One Day Exclusives'. We had only ever done the Monthly Exclusives, and on St Paddy's Day 2019, we release The Ken, for 24 Hours Only. The first of the ODEs.
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With the underside '13' to sit in the palm of your hand.
Enjoy.
For 24 hours.
- Ryan
I am not sure if, 'the calm before storm' really does describe this limbo we are currently suspended in - the period shortly after the comp that seemingly finishes abruptly. It is probably the 'unknown' element - or the fact that NOW is really when the comp starts...
If you have been following along even remotely close, you'd be aware of the fire that was flung at us for the Second Annual CHD Design Comp. Honestly, the designs this year were absolutely insane. An unbelievable standard was set last year, for the first Design Comp, and this year just sucked the protein out of 2020 with ease.
We are all so blown away at the amazing quality of all the designs this year. Genuinely insane, how hot this thing was. The amount of messages that we have received saying, "When are you bringing this one out... I would definitely buy!!" and we need to sheepishly explain that 'yeah na sorry actually, this is just a submission in our design comp...'.
Entries this year at; 612
I honestly feel that 90% of these are worthy top 50'ers. Easily.
What made this year special...?
Don't get me wrong, the 2020 Comp was absolutely incredible. However, I would say that due to 'isolation infused boredom', during the height of global COVID lockdowns, meant any ol' punter was throwing carbon at paper and entering a design. But... it slightly lacked the depth.
SECONDLY, the opening year started with a lot of unknowns. The quality of entrant, 'what do I need to do to get my ring design across the line' kind of questions... Once the doors opened and people understood that this was no mugs game, there was a bit of riff raff trimmed from around the edges and every designer knew the quality that was required to dethrone the champ, Conor.
That is why, this comp has become intimidatingly competitive.
So let me give you a breakdown of the coming weeks ahead and what we have lined up for you.
We actually have some other content lined up that is related to the Design Comp, but will also go into a look behind the brand.
NOW up until the 12th of June;
We'll be simmering the designs down to the TOP 100.
13th of June (Sunday);
The TOP 100 is announced.
14th till the 18th;
We showcase the Top 100, 20 per day from Monday till Friday.
With the feedback from you all during this week, we will make the call on the 10 Finalists.
24th of June (Thursday Night);
We announce the Top 10!
28th till the 2nd of July;
We showcase the Top 10 Finalists.
15th of July (Thursday Night);
We announce the 2021 Design Comp Winner
SEPTEMBER we will release the winning design, for one month only...
Well then...
During this period, we are going to use this opportunity to give you all a look behind the brand.
We will be announcing the Top 100 and Top 10 via a video podcast, in which we will chat a bit about the competition, about the brand and how this all came to be...
We have wanted to do a bit more behind the brand content for a while now, and felt this was a great way to showcase both the Design Comp and how Crooked Howlet Designs first started.
So prior to this, let me know of any areas of the business that you'd like us to go into.
- Ryan
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The One Day Exclusives (ODE) have become the one true staple of CHD.
Summed up best by a foaming customer;
"Just wake me up when there's the next One Day Exclusive drop..."
Last year's Friday the 13ths landed in both March and November, giving us a good spread across the year of two ODE's. However, with only one in August this year, we wanted to bring you all another release that would get the groin tingling.
We've had the idea to work with 'this designer' for some time now, however, the obscurity of him and his artwork, meant we needed a good angle, a good approach and a proper reason to unveil this enigma.
You'd be a fool to describe his work at 'basic'... but you'd also be kind of right. You wouldn't expect it to be on oil and canvas behind a velvet rope... but if it was, you'd stop and ponder. You'd cuss it out with the standard 'oi yeah na I could do that...', but you'd also stare it at for those few seconds longer.
If I was a wanker, I'd continue to describe his artwork with soulful simplicity...
The floaty ones amongst you will recognise the connotation here, for everyone else, here is the premise;
Leading into this design comp, we really wanted everyone to appreciate the fact that it is not all about the artistic value of the design. It's about the concept and how simple lines with purpose, can make for some of the best jewellery.
The designs for this ODE release are completely stripped back to their bare bones and given a truly lighter touch. It's not the visual element, but it'll make you feel something, (without sounding like too much of a cornball).
Unlike previous collaborations that we've done, this one had to have supporting material. Jack Ankersen's designs really spoke for themselves and required no further validation or context. This one does. Not because it 'needs' it, but because we wouldn't be doing the artwork justice by not unearthing this designer for you all to see.
So we recently caught up with the artist to interview for this collaboration. It's an odd one... But hey, that's what the One Day Exclusive is all about.
We'll be announcing the One Day Exclusive artist on April 27th and the release with be April 29th
With only two weeks to go, I figured that now is a good time to intro what we have lined up for the opening of Second Annual CHD Design Comp.
Let's hold back on the buttery poetry and just hit this thing with a blatant dot pointed list, then for those of you that want to skip the rigmarole to follow, you at least know what is in stall for the launch.
The Design Concept will be entered with images, sketches and/or explanations of the thought behind the piece.
If you can't draw - no worries at all, just compile a bunch of images that portray the concept.
See Cooper's above, for an example of a great custom design break down.
It should include:
Besides stretching out the creative banjo-string and the numbing few weeks you'll have in self-isolation... The winner will have their piece produced and listed online for an exclusive short run, (in which you will take design royalty on). A runner-up design will also be chosen and produced for the second place designer.
...is it?
Entries will open May 1st and close on the 31st
The winners will be drawn by the team at CHD. Throughout the competition term, we will be posting images of the designs to gauge appeal, which will influence the final decision. We did originally want to do a voting system, however we didn't want this to be overrun by some stray sweetheart with 100k followers voting in their pig meat design.
GET AFTER IT!
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As I am sure you've picked up on this by now; we thrive off the exclusivity factor of our designs. From the monthly exclusives, boiled down to this even more intense short window - only one day to get your mitts onto this release.
The exclusivity of these designs is to build a further intrinsic value into your piece - beyond the surface aesthetic. The idea of your particular ring design being cranked out and sold for years to come, we feel dilutes the significance of that little piece of metal perched on your knuckles. What's the good worth of an heirloom if the company is still selling that design once you hand it on? Or no defined purpose or importance of that period it was sold for? There's still something to be said about the stories that you build into the ring yourself, however we want this to be shared by the select, dedicated few. We also love the idea of worlds aligning and you bumping into a stray person on a night out that managed to slot into that 24 hour purchase opportunity, somewhere else on the planet and they also share the same heirloom. At least for us, that's something kind of special...
That is all well and good BUT, the design itself needs to be master... and good god, it is. We essentially can't miss when working with Jack Ankersen. The bloke is a genius.
Let us leave you here, see the original artwork done by Jack that we used for the design.
There's been a lot of smack on my mind with work in the past few weeks that has nearly driven me mad, so instead of sitting in am all-white room pulling the legs of spiders, I figured it would be best to give you all a bit of context in a "Letter from the owner". So here it is...
Firstly, I want to give my most genuine love out there to all our customers that have been unbelievably understanding of longer wait times on production and delay in communication on customer service.
The main message of all this letter is to let you know that by no means imaginable are these issues not been addressed with the hardest grind and attention to get everything sorted ASAP. I am so aware of the issues we face and the weight of this is taking a solid toll on me, but that is irrelevant, because until you all get exactly what we promise and you as customers deserve - without trying to sound like a Reserve Grade Tony Robbins - I won't stop the brutal slog until we iron out all these issues.
It really breaks my heart that after the long hard fought hours that I have put into building CHD, that we may be doing lasting damage by not delivering on some fundamental aspects of production times and quick replies on customer service. So those elements have my complete focus over the following weeks and months. Know that!
I've currently got the lower back of 65 year old carpet layer, from carrying the preverbal weight of these current issues. The thought that any of you assume apathy or lack of attention makes me ill, so please know how much it means to me and the team to make sure these problems are dealt with it as quick as humanly possible.
We've been flogged by a unique combination of a mega flow of orders, (shout out to the brilliance of Conor Jon Taylor's Prosperity Design), an understaffed in studio and casting house - due to COVID limitations and just growing pains from all you legends getting onboard the CHD journey.
Jewellers are a rare breed and we are not willing to concede any ground on quality, so finding the right jewellers to join the team has been a tall task. We are sniffing about all the right areas and we should have a couple more jewellers joining the team soon to help bail us out of this beautiful problem.
Gemstones and supplies have been choked up and to add insult to injury, our packaging is now stuck at the ports in Sydney, forcing us to send out a few orders in old packaging, which I hate doing - as we put such an emphasis on this area of our business. If you don't know about our packaging concept, have a watch here;
There has been the odd customer that has wanted to bury their {naked} knuckles into my teeth due to the delay, but for the most part, you've all been such utter legends and I can thank you enough.
So for now, I'm going to beer bong another 14 coffees and keep getting after it. Stay safe and I'll be here.
- Ryan
Total design submissions; 482.
Look, this was insane. To be honest, coming into this thing, I was somewhat apprehensive about both; the number of submissions and the quality of the entries. I was expecting a few 'ok' designs, but primarily just some roughed up sketches on the back of a ciggie pack countless dick pics and I figured we'd need myself or one of our resident designers here to submit a design under a cheeky alias, so that we had something that could be turned into a workable design. But, 'pull my pubes and call me Peter', the designs have been unreal. Genuinely blown away. There has been legitimately so many designs that I would love to have in the CHD line up.
Even after the first day, I was forced to re-calibrate on my apprehension, as some amazing designs started to flood through. To an extent, I have been feeling somewhat guilty of the effort you are all putting in. Mainly just honoured, but I am already feeling the weight of judging this thing and letting people down. So believe me, we are taking this very serious and we are super appreciative of all the effort that went into these designs. A huge THANK YOU from us at CHD.
Let's get down to it. Here's how the coming few weeks will play out.
Over the weekend, we will be culling the entries down to the final 100. This will be a ruthlessly hard 3 days and extremely hard. But we need to start somewhere.
Monday, 4th till Friday the 8th:
We will begin the final series.
This week, we will post 20 designs a day on our IG and Facebook. Getting feedback from all of you on your favourite designs.
This week will decide the 10 finalists.
Monday, 11th till Friday the 15th:
We'll announce these finalists during this week.
Monday, 18th till Friday the 22nd:
We'll showcase the 10 finalists and their designs.
Friday, May 29th:
Announce Winner, of the first Annual CHD Design comp.
We've got some real fun things planned for you in the coming few weeks, so it won't be a tedious waiting period. Keep aggressively close and we'll keep you entertained...
Thanks again to all the legends who entered. It was an absolute honour! You all made the FIRST Design Comp feel like the real beginning of something great.
- Ryan
Founder | Head Designer